Nye County was created in 1864 from Esmeralda County and is the largest county in the
State of Nevada consisting of 18,294 square miles. It was named in honor of James Warren Nye,
Governor of Nevada Territory and a United States Senator from Nevada. Approximately 70% of Nye
County land is owned by the Federal Goverment.

The County Seat was originally Ione (an old mining camp 1865), then Belmont (1867), but was moved to
Tonopah by an act of May 1, 1905.